Woman in Berlusconi sex trial denounces tactics

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, wipes away a tear as she reads a statement to reporters during a protest outside the court house, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement Thursday to a
— AP

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, wipes away a tear as she reads a statement to reporters during a protest outside the court house, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement Thursday to a
/ AP

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, left, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, holds up her passport as she is surrounded by reporters outside Milan's court house, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement Thursday to a gaggle of reporte— AP

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, left, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, holds up her passport as she is surrounded by reporters outside Milan's court house, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement Thursday to a gaggle of reporte
/ AP

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, holds up her passport as she is surrounded by reporters outside Milan's court house, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement Thursday to a gaggle of reporters in — AP

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, holds up her passport as she is surrounded by reporters outside Milan's court house, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement Thursday to a gaggle of reporters in
/ AP

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, bottom left, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, holds up her passport in one hand and a stack of papers in the other as she is mobbed by reporters outside Milan's court house, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a— AP

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, bottom left, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, holds up her passport in one hand and a stack of papers in the other as she is mobbed by reporters outside Milan's court house, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a
/ AP

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, hands out the statement she read to reporters outside Milan's court house, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement Thursday to a gaggle of reporters in front of Milan's — AP

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, hands out the statement she read to reporters outside Milan's court house, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement Thursday to a gaggle of reporters in front of Milan's
/ AP

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, bottom left, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, reads a statement to reporters outside Milan's court house, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement Thursday to a gaggle of reporters in front of Mil— AP

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, bottom left, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, reads a statement to reporters outside Milan's court house, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement Thursday to a gaggle of reporters in front of Mil
/ AP

A tear rolls down the cheek of Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, as she reads a statement to reporters during a protest outside the court house, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement T— AP

A tear rolls down the cheek of Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, as she reads a statement to reporters during a protest outside the court house, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement T
/ AP

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, center, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, is surrounded by reporters outside Milan's court house, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement Thursday to a gaggle of reporters in front of Milan's cour— AP

Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby, center, a Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial, is surrounded by reporters outside Milan's court house, Italy, Thursday, April 4, 2013. The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial has denounced what she says is psychological warfare being waged against her by Italian prosecutors. Ruby, read out a lengthy statement Thursday to a gaggle of reporters in front of Milan's cour
/ AP

MILAN 
The Moroccan woman at the center of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial held an unusual protest Thursday in front of Milan's courthouse, accusing investigators of waging psychological warfare against her and manipulating her testimony during interrogations.

Karima el-Mahroug, better known as Ruby, read out a tearful, six-page statement denying that she was a prostitute, insisting that she had never had sex with Berlusconi and demanding that the court hear her side of the story.

"I have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide," el-Mahroug said. She denounced what she called "psychological torture" directed at her by people pretending to help her and also accused the media of defaming her.

The 21-year-old also admitted, however, that she had lied in the past to hide her poverty-stricken origins.

The 76-year-old Berlusconi is accused of having paid for sex with el-Mahroug while she was a teenager during his infamous `'bunga-bunga" parties at his villa near Milan, and then trying to cover it up. Both deny sexual contact.

El-Mahroug's protest came at a politically sensitive time for Italy, as Berlusconi's center-right party seeks to muscle its way into a governing coalition after coming in second in inconclusive February elections. Parliament is also poised to elect a new president in the coming weeks, a highly politicized process given that the new president will have a major role to play in calling new elections if no government can be formed among Italy's squabbling political blocs.

El-Mahroug has been the most pivotal character in Berlusconi's legal woes, a one-time nightclub dancer who left her family in Sicily as a young teen and ended up at dinner parties at the home of the Italian premier as his second marriage collapsed.

The scandal broke in 2010 when it emerged that Berlusconi had intervened with police on el-Mahroug's behalf after she was accused of stealing 3,000 euros from a friend and was detained by Milan police. Berlusconi said he intervened to avoid a diplomatic incident, thinking she was a relative of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president at the time.

El-Mahroug on Thursday showed an old passport that identified her last name as "Mubarak" and said that bureaucratic error is why she often told lies and identified herself as a Mubarak relative. She apologized for having created such a "fantasy" but said she did it to escape the "poverty and suffering into which I was born and grew up in before leaving my family in Sicily."

In her only other lengthy comments about the case, el-Mahroug told a television interviewer in 2011 that Berlusconi had paid her 7,000 euros when she went to his home, but denied that she had had sex with him. She also admitted that she had told Berlusconi she was 24 when she was only 17.

El-Mahroug lashed out Thursday at prosecutors, saying they were the source of her suffering for having identified her as a prostitute "even though I always denied having had sex for money, especially with Silvio Berlusconi."